Reef's Night Shift Gig
by Empire-of-the-East
Summary: Following his first year on the job as surf instructor, Reef in his second year at Surfer's Paradise is sent to the mysterious Night Shift, where he meets his new boss - Blake Xiu. Things turn out differently for the two than one might expect though. One-shot.


Reef. The Reefster. The Reefinator. In the previous year, this one young man - at least in his own mind anyway - made a name for himself in the British Columbia community of Sunset Beach, working as the Surf Instructor at the Surfer's Paradise Ridgemount Hotel for the previous summer. Even more specifically, he had been the instructor for that of the day shift - the only shift at the hotel which had a surf instructor. However, once he re-applied for work for his second summer at the hotel, he was in for quite a surprise - he was denied returning to the day shift. Rather, he would be working the night shift, which didn't even a surf instructing job.

As such, the face Reef had on him as he stood in front of the large building at night time this time at his first day of his second summer of work, was just as one would expect from the cocky braggart - anything but happy. For once, his athletic but streamlined tanned body and auburn red hair in a fashionable 'wave' style were not glistening in the sun light, but in the moonlight, though his green eyes were locked in a scowl of annoyance as he looked at what job he got specifically: Busboy.

"Man, this is whack", he questioned to himself via his thoughts, standing outside of the hotel's front door on his first night, "I should be working the day shift as surf instructor again, I don't know why the heck they decided to suddenly change me around! Bummer is such a, well, Bummer!"

With one more additional groan, Reef rolled his eyes and walked in. The only solace he really took is that since it was the same place, he still would technically be able to see his friends from the previous summer - and the day time would be completely workless for him. Though his nights weren't going to be as fun as they used to be previously. Either way, the first thing he had to do was walk into the memorable hotel lobby, complete with it's large aquarium, front desk, gift shop and the dining room which was a large indoor pirate ship to fit with the ocean and surfing theme of the hotel.

What he went for, dressed currently in his main clothing - a black t-shirt with white tribal designs on the chest, blue jean shorts, and only sandals on his feet - was the front desk itself, where only one person was standing at - the night shift front desk clerk, Bella.

It would be impossible to forget Bella once one laid eyes upon her: She was overweight, her body definitely being that of a 'full figure'. Her skin was dark, of course being of African descent. Her hair was in a fine style, straightened and fully black, though itself was likely weave. For clothing, it was nothing special though, since all she had on was the hotel uniform of a purple/yellow polo shirt and khaki pants. For action, she was doing what she usually does on the job - answering various night time phone calls, though not all of them were for reservations, espcially the one she answered as Reef approached her desk:

"Can I ask who in the hell y'all think y'all are?!", she spoke in a voice of both sass and firey anger as he spoke on the hotel phone, "Cuz when I find out I'm gon' find you an- EXCUSE ME?! GET A LIFE?! OH, IT'S ON NOW! WHEN I FIND YOU-", and then she noticed Reef, who just put on a sheepish smile and waved to her, "HOLD UP", and with hanging up the phone she addressed Reef in an annoyed but less infuriated tone of voice, "Can I help you?"

"Um yeah", Reef explained in response, "I'm here to see about starting a job here, where do I-"

"Oh baby you wanna go see the night manager 'bout that", Bella replied before letting him finish, "He'll know about that stuff, plus I got somethin' else to be dealin' with, kay?"

"Um, yeah, kay...where can I find the Night Manager."

"BLAKE!", Bella suddenly shouted while she turned to the direction she knew the manager was off at, "SOMEONE'S HERE TO TALK WITH YOU 'BOUT HAVIN' A JOB HERE!"

In response came a voice from the distance simply exclaiming back in much less of a screaming tone:

"Coming!"

Within a few moments, the young man known as Blake Xiu arrived on the scene as Bella went back to arguing with the prank caller on the phone.

Blake himself was just slightly shorter than Reef, not very noticeable of a difference, but Blake was at least 5 foot 6 inches tall, and was of roughly the same age and athletically streamlined body build as Reef himself even complete with a firm set of round buttocks. His skin was lighter, and judging by the look of his dark brown eyes as well as said skin tone, he was of east asian heritage, also shown by way of his short but 'down' black hair.

"So, are you the new worker?", he asked to Reef, after first gesturing for him to come over to a more quiet area away from Bella.

"Yep, that'd be me alright. Reef, so-"

"Great, that's wonderful, Reef!", Blake remarked, "Just so you know, I do believe that the, Day Manager, did inform me of your previous track record with your job the previous year."

"Oh...he did?", Reef's face quickly went back into something more akin to sulking.

"Yes, he did. I just want to tell you that I'll be keeping my eyes on you, so you might want to really make sure you don't slack off this time."

"Whatever, look, can you just tell me what I'm supposed to even do for this gig?"

"You're a busboy", Blake replied, "Your job is to clear tables."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, that's all. I hope it's to your liking."

"Well, at least this job's going to be easy...so, I work in the dining room, right?"

"No. The Pirate Ship D.R. is closed at night. You're working at the Night Club."

"Wait...exsqueeze me? There was a Night Club at this place the whole time?!", suddenly Reef didn't think working the night shift would be so terrible after all. Blake wasn't surprised by this shift in attitude, so he didn't comment on it.

"Yes", and then Blake handed Reef a map of the hotel with the Night Club's location put on it, "Here's a map to where it is so you don't get lost. Now if you don't mind, I have a job of my own to do in my office, so just don't slack off and we'll be golden, alright? Alright."

With that all having been said, Blake walked off and left Reef to his own devices. Reef couldn't help but softly groan to himself:

"What is it with this place and having all these uptight dweebs as managers?", before he too walked off, following the directions on the map to see where this previously unseen night club was.

The club wasn't all that hard to find, and not just because Reef had a map. It was decentl hidden away from usual public view - which made sense as it wasn't meant to allow family or child entrance. It was located on the second floor of the hotel, actually right above the lobby, taking up the majority of the hotel's second floor. It served as the Night Shift's dining room, effectively. Reef was jaw dropped once he finally saw it after passing beyond a normally locked - during the day - double door. The club had above it's own entrance door a large neon sign revealing it's name in a cursive style of writing with a golden trident serving as it's logo alongside the name - 'Trident'. Already could Reef hear the dance music even from outside of it.

"I can't believe it", the boy said, shaking with excitement and a grin on his face already, "I would've never guessed! I can't wait to see all the hotties that walk up in there, it's like a dream come true!"

With those excited words, Reef's first night of work had officially begun. Since all he had to do was clear tables, most of his focus was actually not on his job at all but rather, on the club itself. The music could be heard clearly once he was inside, all of it being a mix of 1980's classic rock and pop music, as well as pop music in general, with the third most common being generic dance club music. Not to mention the neon lights and less limited selection of drinks, the lack of any tacky themes, and the overall 'fun' and 'nightly' atmosphere of the place.

As one may have easily guessed, even when all he had to do was clear tables for a paycheck, most of what Reef actually did at his job was not clearing tables but instead flirting with the more attractive of the visitors - especially if not exclusively the attractive young women. True this was common at his day time job the previous year, only during his new found night shift year it proved to be arguably even more prevalent.

Many of his comments included what many familar with him from the day time would honestly say wasn't very surprising of him to say:

"Sup Honey, how you doin'?"

"Enjoyin' the club?"

"Mind if I clear more than just the table for you?"

"Is it hot in here or is just me?"

"Hey Baby, mind if I treat you to a little bit of Reef?"

"Wanna have a wave to ride?"

All of these lines and more came out of his mouth directed at the females in the club through the vast majority of his first few nights at work. Needless to say, this was met with lukewarm response from his night time boss Blake, who didn't take kindly to Reef's constant skipping out on work for the sake of flirting. Much like his time on the day staff, Reef basically had his 'dork' boss constantly nagging him about focusing on his job and busting him for his flirting with the guests. Though Blake never gave Reef a strike or threatened to fire him at least.

Little did either the 'Boss' nor the 'Employee' know that on one fateful day some weeks long after Reef first acquired his new job, that their relationship was going to change. In a way far different from Blake deciding to give Reef strikes for his constant flirting, at that.

It all started on one particular Wednesday night, when Blake seemed to get bored of spending so much in his office and did some rounds around the hotel inspecting his employees. Bella was still dealing with practically routine prank calls, Blake having to demand her to just hang up the phone and ignore them before moving on to the others. When he got to Reef, he caught him yet again flirting with some of the more attractive female guests rather than clearing tables - and wasn't happy about it:

"Reef!"

"Ah!", Reef jumped - the girls he flirted with walked away giggling as Reef turned to face Blake with a sheepish smile, "Sup, Boss?"

"Okay, I know for a guy like you that it's probably hard to keep it in your pants", Blake said, "But you should consider trying a bit harder."

"I don't get what you're talking about, I don't got anything hanging out of my pants."

"Don't be a smart ass with me."

"I'm not! It's an honest question!"

"Fine", Blake sighed, "I'll spell it out to you. No flirting with the guests on your job. Literally all you have to do is clear tables. Save the flirting for your free time when the sun's out!"

"Okay, okay, chill dude. Chill. I get it. No more flirting, I got it!"- and he did a salute that Blake seemed to know was just a ruse.

"You're lucky I'm not like Bummer, I don't usually give strikes."

"Ha, yeah, right."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh, do you wanna know?"

"Yes. I want to know what makes one of my employees say that to me."

"Well, you pretty much are exactly like Bummer. And I should know, I spent an entire summer working for him last year."

"What?!", Blake exclaimed, "I am nothing like him! How am I like him?!"

"You're literally just as uptight, like dude, we're in a night club. You really need to chill and have a little fun."

"I'm busy. I have lots of work to do."

"Oh, come on Blakey~", Reef smirked as he tried to coax Blake, "Can't we have some fun? Just for one night, Boss?"

"I'm not supposed to..."

"Do you want to end up like Bummer when you grow up?~"

That made Blake gulp a little: The mere thought that he can end up as bitter as Andrew Baumer managed to send a chill through his spine.

"No, I don't."

"Then why not loosen that uptight butt of yours a little and have some fun for a night?"

Blake sighed and said:

"Fine, but just one night!"

Reef grinned and put one hand over Blake's other shoulder, bringing his manager close to him as he let out with a cheer:

"Sweet! Get ready to have some fun, Boss!"

And so Reef led Blake on a night of fun, something which hardly ever happened the previous year when it came to 'Bummer'. First on Reef's imaginary list was dancing - him luring Blake out to the club's dance floor and all but forcing him to particpate. Admittedly, while Reef was pretty decent at it, Blake moved akwardly at best - a real fish out of water so to speak.

"C'mon, you can do better than that, you're movin' like a nerd", Reef laughed.

"Not all of us are laid back party boys", Blake remarked back, "If you wanted one of those you should've called my brother, even though he's not laid back as much he is flamboyant."

"I have no idea what that word means."

"Nevermind."

"You see, you're problem is you really are too obsessed with that job of yours. You're like, how old?"

"You and me are the same age."

"Exactly! You really need to just shake that booty and forget about your whole job thing."

"Like I said, I'm trying!"

"Well try harder, brah!"

Blake tried to move better, though ultimately it only caused him more failure - he tripped over his own two feet. He would have hit the floor hard, had Reef not saved him with a dip and one of his own hands.

For Blake, that's when everything seemed to stop as he was looking right at Reef's face with nothing but the lights and atmosphere of the club and the tune of the music. Reef didn't have to save him, but apparently he still did. Sure all that would have happened was a thud and hitting the floor, but something about such a small act and it's aftermath of looking at Reef's green eyes and smirk was enough to make Blake softly blush.

"Woah there, you okay Boss?", Reef asked sweetly. This made Blake even more flustered, but after he swiftly shook his head:

"I'm fine...very, very fine...but...um...it'll take more than that to get a raise from me."

"Who was talking about a raise? Hehe."

"Well, I wanted to get that out of the way, just in case."

"If you want, I can give you some dance lessons~"

"I guess there's nothing to lose, we have an entire night of time to kill...heh."

"Just follow my lead."

"You're the Instructor~"

With that, Reef lifts Blake up into a standing position while beginning to teach him how to dance. Granted Reef based most of his dancing off of how he does his surfing and wasn't the best dancer in the world, but he was still surprisingly better at it than Blake was.

Regardless, the touch of Reef's hands and the look in his eyes was enough to make Blake's heart start lovingly racing. He never would have thought he'd feel like this from someone like Reef.

"You getting it?"

"I..I think so."

"Good, I'm not letting you now though~"

"It's okay, don't~"

The two's voice now seemed inaudible at this point, but yet they could still hear each other speak. Reef could feel something as he danced with Blake:

"I can't put my finger on it", he thought, "But there's something about Blake that, no, it can't be...is it?"

The night kept going just as they kept dancing, it was as if both of them forgot they even had jobs at the hotel completely. Not only that, but like they didn't even care about them for the moment. All they cared about was dancing on that dancefloor together.

It took them what was actually a good few hours before they went to what during the day was recognized as the outdoor pool area of the hotel, so that they could get some fresh air as well as a peaceful quiet atmosphere.

"Thanks", Blake said to Reef as they relaxed on the edge of the pool, "I needed that."

"Heh", Reef smirked, "Yeah, I could tell. You're more than welcome."

"...remember when I said this was my only night off? Well, I changed my mind."

"Oh yeah? Then what's the truth?"

"I want to have another night like these one."

"Well, I'd be more than happy to deliver, though it'd also be cool to show you how awesome I am on the waves in the mornin' too~"

"Wait..you surf?"

"Uh, duh! 'Course I surf!"

"I...I like to surf too. Not a professional, but I like to do it sometimes."

"Why didn't tell me that on day one?!"

"Because it wasn't relevant."

"It is to me, dude! What the hell?"

"Ha, I'm sorry. To be fair, we hardly even knew each other."

"Hahaha, yeah; it's true..."

"So then, what do we do now? Just get back to work?"

"Ha, you're the first boss of mine to ever ASK that."

"Yeah...right."

"Haha"

"And you think I cansee you surf one of these days?"

"Oh, I'd love to show you what the Reefster can do~"

"Hahaha, I bet!"

And show he did; the next day in the afternoon but a few hours before he had to get ready for his work shift, Reef was ready to go to his usual round of surfing. Only this time, he had Blake with him.

"Ready to be amazed?", Reef boasted, to which Blake softly chuckled:

"Haha, why not?"

"All right then, prepare yourself!", and so Reef went to the see with his board in hand, more than ready to show what he was capable of. Needless to say, he was rather good when it came to the skills he could dish out on the water.

Blake looked in amazement, he was in awe at how professional Reef was.

"No way I can beat him." Blake thought, "Not in a million years."

Reef kept going doing his thing surfing, the grin on his face more than showing his personal confidence. Reef kept going doing his thing surfing, the grin on his face more than showing his personal confidence. When Reef arrived to the shore to meet Blake:

"How'd I do?"

"I think you already know the answer."

"Heheh, yeah, I know, I'm the awesomest surfer around here, goes without saying really."

"Haha..."

"Now how 'bout you?"

"Me...what?"

"C'mon, give it a try."

"OK...but I won't be as good as you."

"That's a given!"

Blake shook his head and took his surfboard to test his luck, Reef's smile was at least enough for encouragement as he went to the see and rode his first wave. Blake was not nearly as good as Reef nor a professional at all, especially given that he was one of the few 'senior' staff to not bother going through initiation into the Office.

But regardless, he was doing fine as it is. Reef seemed a bit impressed, even. Blake, meanwhile; keep getting the hang of it. Until:

He tripped and fell into the water as a result - washing up on the shore not long after.

"Blake!"

"Well, I tried, my, best...ack..."

"You sure did, I thought I'd lost you back there though!"

"Like you never wiped out before."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Reef, you expect me to believe you were born a perfect surfer?"

"Maaaaaaaaybe?"

"People don't get good like you without practice."

"Hmph."

"Well it's true! Look, I'll be fine, okay? I just need more practice."

"...you wanna a teacher?"

"I'd love one."

So, after a couple more of rounds of surfing which the two of them both heavily enjoyed, the two boys were walking through the beach - on their way back to the hotel as it was almost time for their night shift. They needed to get into their uniforms, after all - even if Blake might be willing to give Reef some passes on that in the near future.

"Hey Blake, can I ask you something?"

"What is it, Reef?"

"Have you felt you have feelings for someone close?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Just by curiosity."

"Okay...well...I...kind of have."

"Yeah?"

Reef nodded - to which Blake shortly afterwards questioned:

"Explain?"

"Well...it's recent this feeling..."

"How so?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Reef was feeling insecure, and Blake could tell. Regardless however, he was desiring the answer and unwilling to give up until he got what it was he desired:

"Yes, I want to know!"

"Well...it's...it's someone I met recently."

"Just tell me!"

"It's you, Blake!"

"What?!"

"I have the biggest mancrush on you, Blake!"

"Mancrush...can't you just say you have a crush on me? Haha."

"Oh...yeah." Reef laughed nervously - admitting feelings such as these to a guy was not what the ladie's man was used to. Luckily for him, Blake laughed along with him as if to make him feel more comfortable:

"Haha"

"But yeah, I have a crush on you!"

"Wow...you...you do?"

Reef stopped and nodded softly in response to that, at which point Blake stopped with him as he took in all of the information to his mind, and it seemed that Reef was flirting with him; although the surfer didn't knew it. He couldn't deny it though, he and his brother Luke had more in common than most would think. That made Blake chuckle a little, as he opened his mouth to say:

"You remind me of my twin brother Luke."

"You have a twin? A twin brother?"

"Yep, his name is Luke."

"Sweet; can't wait to meet him!"

"Oh boy...haha"

"What's that mean?"

"Well, I don't know how to put it, haha...last time we spoke he was on the airport ready to go back home."

"If he's not here then where is he? Haha."

"Well, he'll return on a week from his trip to San Francisco."

"Nice! Jealous!"

That made Blake laugh a little, he knew what Reef meant.

"So...you don't mind that I have a crush on you, Blake?"

"Not at all."

"So...you'll go out with me then?!"

Blake but took short time to think about it, but he replied with an answer that in all honesty he had made within a matter of seconds:

"Sure...maybe something nice will come of this."

"You bet it will!" Reef smirked as he puts his hand across Blake's shoulder. Blake himself smiled and cutely rested his head upon that same hand. And so, the days passed, and while Reef kept going working under Blake's orders, there was more communication between them - Blake was far more lenient when it came to how Reef spent his work shift for example.

Not only that, but for once Reef was actually following Blake's orders more correctly. Though still, Blake as always was more focused on his work during the night than anything else.

As the days passed, their relationship start to grow, and they both knew it and felt night, Reef was called to Blake's office; the Manchu didn't specified why Blake wanted him, but he knew it wasn't anything too bad. All he said in the text was:

"Hey Reef, I wanna spend some time with you in my office."

 _"Maybe the night shift won't be so bad after all."_ Reef thought to himself on his way going back.


End file.
